Awesome visuals with melodic power: DON'T MISS IT!
If you want a great introduction to the visual genius of filmmaker Ranxx Caliber, look no further than this brilliant short, Slappy the Pigboy.
In addition to having an astoundingly cool soundtrack-- by musicians drawn from the cult band Dipsy Slash and the Sound Doctors of Salt Lake City -- Slappy the Pigboy creates its own kind of visual language, one that speaks subtly and subliminally to the backside of our brain. We're given a hint of Slappy's tortured background, then witness the world for outside Slappy's world. The beautiful montage of sepia-toned stills, pan-and-scan sequences and animation seems to tell us more, with a slow-building effect of both magnifying and seeming to "explain" the mystery of why Slappy is so reclusive and what happened to his career.
At the climax of this film, the sensations combine, and we realize that we simultaneously "know" what happened and are still completely shrouded in the mystery of Slappy. I, for one, consider it the mark of great art when it has this ability to speak subliminally to me, as it were, slipping somehow into the recesses of my brain.
Combined all this visual power with the experimental rhythms and melodic beauty of DssD's soundtrack, and you've got a film that is NOT TO BE MISSED! Also, I recommend a visit to DssD's site on MP3.com. If you don't know about these guys, you're in for a treat!